Windows 7: Boot selection failed because a required device is inaccessible

Well, it looks good. Hopefully it stays that way.



Did you get a separate drivers CD? Have you checked the Manufacturers site to see if drivers are available... Not suggesting you use them, just info you may need.

Good call...

I did have a dell driver's disc hidden away in my desk, unopened. Includes diagnostics and utilities. Should I pop it in and run it? If so, anything in particular you think I should be looking for.

I'm curious, because it says the programs were on the computer when it arrived, so shouldn't they have been on the recovery discs I made.

I wish I could help, but I do not have any experience with OEM type situations.

You may be able to download the SP1 update manually and try installing it. But I have to think a device driver is at the root of the problem. If you open device manager (devmgmt.msc) do you show any devices with a yellow mark?

Maybe installing the latest drivers yourself would keep Windows Update from installing a bad one. Just no way for me to even guess.

Did you actually run all of the hard disk tests?

I ran the full diagnostic in F12. All passed, then it did the partition utility and came up with "Pure Call!"

I also ran memtest 86 4a, for 3 hours, 4 tests... all passed no errors.

Most of the suggestions I'm finding, indicate using a Windows 7 repair disk, which I don't have.

I gave in and took it into a shop for diagnosis.

They said it was the hard drive...

So I replaced it, recovered the computer, set up windows and restarted...

to the same issue.

Needless to say, I've taken it back to the shop.

This will show you how you can download an iso to make a disc that can be used to repair the OS:

Repair Install

Did they show you how they determined it was the hard drive?

Did you buy the new drive from them?

no they didn't show me, but I've never had problems with them before, and a lot of people I know use them.

However, I told him I wanted to return the hard drive, since I bought it from their diagnosis.
I left it with them for now... but I'm downloading that iso just in case.

Hi there,

Issue is solved.

As I said, switching out the hard drive and performing a recovery did not work.
I took it back, and they performed a clean Windows7 install... which worked.

I wasn't particularly happy, since I lost a few programs, like Media center, and roxio, which came pre-installed, since they did a bare bones install. I also told them that I was concerned about buying the hard drive, since it didn't solve the issue. So they said they'd take it back, if I could get the old one working.

So... I created a startup repair disc from the new Windows 7 install. Then I put the old hard drive in and booted. Windows 7 actually started this time, but hung up before the desktop appeared. I then booted to safe mode, and a blank desktop appeared. So I booted from the repair disc, and it didn't find any errors.

So I recovered the hard drive again... and booted to the original error. I then booted again from the startup repair disc, which this time found a boot file error, and fixed it.

Windows 7 then loaded! I performed updates and successfully restarted. I then replaced the trial programs with my permanent ones, and updated again. During this period, the computer restarted about a half dozen times. All successfully. So far, I have restarted the computer about 20 times, all with no issues.

So issue seems resolved. I just needed a startup repair disc, which I stupidly neglected to make when I got the computer, thinking the recovery discs would be enough. I am a little confused about why there is such an error on the recovery discs, since making them was the first thing I did when the laptop came out of the box.

So, just getting ready to return the replacement hard drive and get my money back.

Hope this helps those with a similar issue.